The Hindu : `A special moment for me'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004

National

National

`A special moment for me'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB.4 . The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by her son and daughter, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, tonight described as a "very special moment" the Delhi High Court judgment clearing the name of her husband Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors gun deal case.

At a hurriedly-convened meeting at her 10 Janpath residence, Ms. Gandhi recounted that the family had endured "17 years of abuse, vilification and worst character assassination campaign.''

"Through these 17 years, from the first accusation to the last indignation inflicted by the BJP-NDA (Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance) Government which placed my husband's name on the chargesheet in the corruption case as an accused, I have never for a second felt more proud of being the wife of such a man. What my husband had been saying has been upheld by the High Court," she said but did not take any questions from the media. Earlier, at the executive meeting of the Congress in Parliament, Ms. Gandhi and others, were briefed about the judgment by the senior leader, Kapil Sibal.

Ms. Gandhi's response to the judgment came much after the party spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, said that it was time for the people to decide the manner in which to deal with "conspirators" who had tried to tarnish the name of Rajiv Gandhi in the gun deal.

While stating that people would have to be on guard against these "conspirators" who were still levelling allegations against the Congress leaders, he also said that the leaders of political parties should draw a line on how far one could go in such matters.

However, he sidestepped questions on whether leaders of political parties like the Left, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and even the Congress chief spokesperson, S. Jaipal Reddy, who had accused Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors scandal would form part of the Congress charge of "conspirators."

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